24k Mile Survivor? 1976 Buick Skylark
Between 1975 and 1979, Buick’s compact cars were on the same platform but carried two names: Apollo for the 4-door sedans and Skylark (formerly a mid-size) for the 2-door versions (coupe and hatchback). This 1976 example may be one of the nicest left and could have only 24,000 miles. Located with a dealer in Lakeland, Florida, this beauty is available here on eBay where the bidding has reached $5,100, but the reserve has yet to be satisfied. Thanks for the great GM tip, Larry D!
Buick returned to the compact car game in mid-1973, introducing a Nova derivative called the Apollo on the X-body platform. But the company apparently thought they could sell more smaller automobiles in the wake of the OPEC oil embargo by rebadging its coupes as Skylarks, a proven nameplate. The Regal and Century models would forge on in the intermediate space. During the 1976 model year, Buick produced 51,260 Skylark hatch-less coupes, including this Landau edition.
We don’t know the history of this Skylark, but if the mileage is accurate, it’s spent a great deal of time in the garage over the past 46 years. The seller refers to the car as “original” which implies the blue paint is what it left the factory with, and it presents well. The plastic pieces behind the bumpers are not body-colored which suggests they may have been replaced as they were known for cracking and breaking. The interior may also be original and looks excellent, although things may be a little worn on the seat bottom where the driver would hang out.
This Buick is powered by the popular GM 231 cubic inch V6 (like the one I had in an ’83 Olds Cutlass). The motor is flanked by an automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes, but no factory air conditioning (unusual if this has always been a Florida car which we don’t know). Someone has added Cragar mag wheels which add a sporty look. One unusual item under the hood is the shroud over the fan which has been replaced with a plain, bulky one rather than one that was black when new. With little to no effort, you could be showing this beauty off at Cars & Coffee very soon!
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Comments
Wow, there’s an upper radiator hose for ya’! (Autoplace), “Yep, we have one,( covered with dust) $1200 bucks”,,,oh, man,,,these cars always lived in the shadow of the Nova. Pure gimmickery, it was the same car, but GM knew people were so loyal to the name, they could charge extra, and the amazing thing, people went for it. While it looks pretty shnazzy, the wheels look awesome, but it’s a basic car, as most were. The fact a nice car like this only bringing a paltry $5gs, bolsters my idea that modern car buyers today are idiots.
Oops, I suppose that “idiots” is a bit strong, more like,,uninformed. Somebody, who knows anything today about vintage cars, is going to get a sweetheart.
It’s too bad that they felt the need to cover the bottom of the car in a fresh coat of undercoating and silver paint.
What are you talking about, fresh coat of undercoating and silver paint? Where are you even seeing pictures of the underbody? If you’re talking about the rocker panels, they came chrome from the factory like that. This was my first car and I hated buffing the stupid things as a teenager.
They removed those photos from the listing because of how bad it made a decent car look.
Yeah, no. I’ve seen the photos on another website, whatever you’re talking about is nonsense. The undercarriage looks perfectly fine.
Enjoyed the classic tune named ‘Skylark’…..by Johnny Mercer & Hoagie Carmichael…..covered by many stars over the decades.
But the car…..never did much for mua !
Russ, I’m not sure where you got your facts from, or maybe I’m just reading it wrong, which in my old age happens a lot, but, the Apollos were 2 door and 2 door hatchback. I had a ’73 Apollo 2 door. You sure it wasn’t the Skylarks that came in 4 door?
for the 75 models the Apollo as a sedan was a 1975 only , after that , both coupes and sedans were Skylarks
Maybe by ’76 they changed things up. I was just looking at the photo of the ’76 Skylark in question and noticed it has frameless windows. The ’73s had frames around the windows. I don’t know much about the 76s but my ’73 was a blast to drive. It would leave rubber from one end of the intersection to the other end.
Unfortunately, it got rear ended, hard.
Me and my brother had a 75 2dr skylark each. His was purchased new. Both had a 350ci Buick engine and 120 miles speedometer. When young and dumb the needle wood go past the milage counter complete ly. 45 degrees past 120 mph. I’m guessing 150 mph stock. Way to fast. The early 231 is a junk engine
Put a 1986-87 3.8L v6 turbo in this Buick sklark…
A landau G.N.🏁
I’ve got a 77 skylark with a 455 from a 1970 riviera with a 4 speed and a 3.73 posi out of a 1979 firebird. Mines all gold,no vinyl top. Tan interior.
Tire incinerator set-up. Nice 👍🏁